Richard I the Lionheart - King of England from July 6, 1189 - to April 6, 1199 (born September 8, 1157 - d. April 6, 1199)
Richard I - the English king and duke of Normandy, spent most of his life in military campaigns away from England. One of the most romantic figures of the Middle Ages. For a long time he was considered the model of the knight.
An entire era in the history of the Middle Ages was made up of the Crusades, which, despite the remoteness of events, do not cease to attract the attention of historians and participants in movements united in different clubs under the code name "clubs of historical reconstruction".
The English king Richard I, nicknamed the Lionheart, is one of the most famous, brilliant and controversial figures of that era, which left a significant imprint on the processes of relations between Christianity and Islam.
The first two Crusades, despite certain successes of the Christian West, were not crowned with the complete victory of Christianity over Muslims. Vizier Yusuf Salah-ad-din (Saladin), who seized supreme power in Egypt in 1171, was able to unite Egypt, part of Syria and Mesopotamia into one whole and threw all his forces to fight the crusaders. Its main goal was to destroy the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which appeared after the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders on July 15, 1099, which had been in the hands of Christians for almost a century.
Saladin's efforts were crowned with success: on October 2, 1187, after a month-long siege, the gates of Jerusalem opened to the Muslims. The news of the fall of Jerusalem sent Europe into a state of shock. Pope Urban III died of a stroke. His successor, Gregory VIII, called on Christians for a new Crusade to "return the Holy Sepulcher" and the lands occupied by the Saracens.
The Third Crusade, unlike the previous two, can be considered a campaign of knights. This time, the peasants, disappointed with the past results, did not respond to the pope's call. The fact is that none of the survivors received the promised land plots. Nevertheless, the sovereigns of three countries - England, France and Germany - began to prepare for the campaign.
Especially willingly, the idea of a new Crusade was accepted by the king of England, Henry II Plantagenet, the largest of the European sovereigns of those times, obsessed with the idea of "world domination". But in June 1189, Henry died and his son Richard ascended the throne, who was to become the main figure of the Third Crusade.
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Richard was born in Oxford. He was the second son in the family and could not claim the English crown. But he inherited Aquitaine from his mother, Alienora of Aquitaine. At the age of fifteen, he donned the ducal crown, but for several years he was forced to fight for his duchy with arms in hand.
1183 - Henry II demanded that Richard take a sworn oath to his elder brother, declared King Henry III. Because there was no such practice before, the Duke of Aquitaine flatly refused. The elder brother went to war against the recalcitrant, but soon died of a fever. Thus, Richard became the direct heir to the crowns of England, Normandy and Anjou.
However, to all appearances, Henry II disliked his son and did not see in him the ability for government activities. He decided to transfer Aquitaine to his youngest son John - the future reformer king John the Landless. The king went on a campaign to Aquitaine twice, and Richard was forced to accept, but Aquitaine remained in the hands of his mother.
Henry II continued to insist on the transfer of the duchy to John. It was also doubtful that he would leave the throne of England to Richard. In addition, the duke learned that his father had asked the King of France Philip II Augustus for the hand of his sister Alice for John. This deeply offended Richard, because Alice was then engaged to him. And the duke took an extreme step. He entered into an alliance with Philip. Together they opposed Henry. In this fight, the king of England lost, a few days before his death he was forced to recognize Richard as his heir and confirmed his right to Aquitaine.
1189, July 6 - The Duke of Aquitaine is crowned at Westminster and becomes King of England. Having lived in the country for only four months, he returned to the mainland and once again visited his kingdom only in 1194, and even then he stayed there only for two months.
During his father's lifetime, Richard made a vow to take part in the Crusade. Now that his hands were untied, he could fulfill it. Then the young king was well known as a valiant knight, who had repeatedly proved his martial art in battle and in tournaments. He was considered the model of a knight, and he, no doubt, deserved it by the impeccable execution of all the rules prescribed by courtly behavior. No wonder among the virtues of Richard I was the ability to compose poetry, for which contemporaries often called him "the king of troubadours."
And of course, this knight of knights embraced the idea of the Crusade with great enthusiasm. As the well-known German historian B. Kugler wrote, "Richard, strong as a German, warlike as a Norman, and a fantasy writer, like a Provencal, the idol of a wandering chivalry, thirsted first of all for miraculous deeds, his greatest glory."
But personal courage, dexterity in battle and physical strength do not yet make a warrior a commander. That is why many of the researchers represent Richard I the Lionheart from directly opposite positions. A number of historians consider him the greatest military leader of the Middle Ages, while others do not find in him the slightest manifestation of the talent of a commander - after all, the Third Crusade, of which the king was one of the main leaders, completely failed. But almost everyone agrees that Richard was a rather mediocre ruler. True, this is very difficult to prove or disprove, because almost all of his adult life was spent on campaigns.
1190, summer - by the efforts of the young king, preparations for the campaign were completed. Moreover, historians note "the exceptional promiscuity with which […] Richard sought funds for the" holy war."
Confirmation of this is not only the so-called "Saladin's tithe" - the collection of a 10th part of income and property from those who did not take part in the campaign. At the same time, the Jews suffered in particular, from whom almost all property was taken away under the threat of physical violence. Richard sold various positions for a pittance, including episcopal, rights, castles, villages. For 100,000 marks, he ceded to the Scottish king his feudal rights in this country. It is known that Richard said that he would even sell London if he found a suitable buyer.
In the early summer of 1190, British troops crossed the English Channel and advanced towards Marseilles, where a fleet of 200 ships awaited them, circling France and Spain. By September, they were already in Sicily, where they were supposed to spend the winter in order to avoid the dangers of navigation at this time of the year.
At that time, there was a struggle between baronial parties on the island, which broke out after the death of King William II. Following the aspirations of his father, who was planning the seizure of Sicily, Richard I took advantage of the situation and sided with the "legal rights" of the widow of the late king, his sister Joanna. The reason for the hostilities was the clash of one of the English mercenaries with the Messinian bread trader, which turned into a fight between the crusaders and the townspeople, who closed the city gates and prepared for a siege.
The king stormed Messina, captured the city and gave it to plunder. It was there that he received the nickname Lion Heart, which, judging by the bloody results, does not at all indicate nobility, but emphasizes the bloodthirstiness of the conqueror. Although, tradition assures that this nickname was given to him by the Messinians themselves, who made peace with Richard and admired his military prowess.
In the art of making enemies, Richard I the Lionheart knew no rivals. Already at the first stage of the campaign, in Sicily, Philip II Augustus of France opposed his actions. Chronicles testify that during the capture of Messina, the ally king tried to thwart the assault and even personally fired a bow at the English rowers.
According to legend, the hatred of the King of England towards the French was based on an episode associated with the fact that the king, who was proud of his physical strength, was thrown from his horse at a tournament by some French knight. There was friction between the monarchs and on a personal basis: Richard refused to marry Alice, who was suspected of being related to his father, and preferred Berengaria of Navarre, who soon arrived in Sicily with Alienora of Aquitaine to marry her fiancé.
Soon, Richard still had a chance to settle the conflict with the ruler of Sicily, Tancred Lecce. The latter remained in power, but paid Richard 20,000 gold ounces. When Philip II demanded, according to the agreement, half of the amount, the Englishman gave him only one third, which aroused the hatred of the ally.
Strife between the two main leaders of the Crusade led to the fact that both left Sicily at different times. Both had the same goal - Acre (modern Akko), besieged by the Italian and Flemish knights who had arrived earlier, as well as the Syrian Franks. But who left Messina ten days later than the rival
On the way, Richard captured the island of Cyprus, got rich booty, and there he married Berengaria. It is known that the king fought in the forefront, he himself captured the enemy's banner and knocked down the emperor Isaac Comnenus, who ruled Cyprus, with a spear. The Cypriot ruler, the king of England, not yielding to the eastern rulers in cunning, ordered him to be chained in silver, since he, upon surrendering, put forward a condition that iron chains should not be imposed on him. The prisoner was sent to one of the Syrian castles, where he died in captivity.
Despite the fact that the capture of Cyprus was a matter of chance, it was a rather successful acquisition from a strategic point of view. Richard I the Lionheart made the island an important stronghold for the Crusaders. Subsequently, through Cyprus, he established an uninterrupted supply of the troops by sea, avoiding the mistakes of the commanders of the First and Second Crusades, who ruined many people precisely because of the lack of sufficient supplies and the impossibility of replenishing them.
Meanwhile, in Acre there was a struggle for primacy between the leaders who arrived from Europe, and those who had long settled on the "sacred" land for Christians. Guido Lusignan and Konrad of Montferrat fought for the right to the throne of Jerusalem, which, incidentally, was in the hands of Salah ad-din. Arriving in Acre, the English king took the side of his relative Lusignan, and Philip - the Marquis of Montferrat. As a result, the contradictions have intensified even more. And Richard's success as a military leader of the Crusaders brought the situation to its highest point.
Arriving in Acre, Richard I the Lionheart at the council of war insisted on an immediate assault on the city. Philip was opposed, but the opinion of the king of England prevailed. Siege towers, battering rams, catapults were hastily prepared. The assault was carried out under protective roofs. In addition, we made several trenches.
As a result, on July 11, 1191, Acre fell. The humiliated Philip, under the pretext of illness, left the crusaders, returned to France and, while Richard was in the "holy land", attacked his possessions on the mainland, and also made an alliance with John, who ruled England in the absence of his older brother. In addition, the king of France agreed with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry VI, to capture Richard if he returned from Palestine through the lands subject to the emperor.
At this time, the English king was busy with completely different problems. First of all, Richard I brutally dealt with the inhabitants of Acre. By his order, the crusaders killed 2,700 hostages, without receiving a ransom from Saladin in time. The ransom amount was 200,000 gold, and the leader of the Muslims simply did not have time to collect them. It should be noted, however, that the Saracens did not take revenge and did not touch any of the Christian captives.
After that, the Englishman became a real scarecrow in the eyes of Muslims. It was not for nothing that mothers in Palestine frightened capricious children, saying: "Don't cry, don't cry, here is King Richard," and the horsemen reproached the reeling horses: "Have you seen King Richard?" During the campaign, the king repeatedly confirmed his opinion of his belligerence and bloodthirstiness, returning from another operation with a necklace made from the heads of opponents that adorned the neck of his horse, and with a shield studded with Muslim arrows. And once, when some emir, who was reputed among Muslims as an amazing strongman, challenged the Englishman to a duel, the king chopped off the Saracen's head and shoulder with his right hand with one blow.
Richard I the Lionheart, opponents were not only afraid: due to inconsistency in decision-making, violation of his own instructions, he earned a reputation among Muslims as an unhealthy person.
At Acra, the king acquired another enemy. One of the leaders of the crusaders, Duke Leopold of Austria, became him. During the capture of the city, he hastened to hoist his banner. Richard ordered it to be ripped off and thrown into the mud. Later, Leopold recalled this insult, having played the main role in the capture of Richard on the way to England.
After the capture of Acre, the crusaders moved towards Jerusalem. The English king again played the leading role in this campaign. He managed to overcome the ambitions of the rest of the leaders of the campaign and the barons, to bring together the disparate forces of the Europeans. But attempts to take Jaffa and Ascalon ended ingloriously. Salah ad-din, realizing the impossibility of defending the city, simply ordered the destruction of both, so that the crusaders got only ruins.
Then the 50 thousandth army of the crusaders moved along the coast in short marches. Lionheart did not want to tire the warriors ahead of time, who faced a long siege under the scorching sun. The king was able to establish staff service and regular supply of the army. He also implemented some innovations unfamiliar to medieval military leaders. In particular, in the army, in order to avoid epidemics, field laundries operated.
The army of Salah ad-Din accompanied the army of the crusaders, but did not enter the battle with it, limiting itself to minor skirmishes on the flanks. The Englishman ordered not to pay attention to them, accumulating forces for the battle near Jerusalem. He understood that the Muslims wanted to provoke the dismemberment of the army, so that the heavily armed knights would become easy prey for the swift Muslim horsemen. By order of Richard I, the attacks were repulsed by crossbowmen, who were placed at the edges of the entire army.
But the sultan did not give up his attempts: in early September, near Arsuf, he set up an ambush, and the rear of the crusaders was subjected to a powerful attack. Salah ad-Din hoped that the rearguard would nevertheless get involved in the battle and be destroyed before the forward detachments could deploy and help their co-religionists. But the king ordered not to pay attention and go ahead. He himself planned a counterattack.
Only when the Saracens became completely bold and came close was a predetermined signal given, according to which the knights ready for this turned and rushed to counterattack. The Saracens were scattered in a few minutes. They lost about 7,000 killed, the rest fled. Having repulsed the attack, again by order of Richard, the crusaders did not pursue the enemy. The king understood that knights carried away by battle, scattered across the desert, could become easy prey for the Saracens.
The sultan no longer dared to openly disturb the army of the crusaders, limiting himself to individual sorties. The army safely reached Ascalon (present-day Ashkelon), overwintered there, and in the spring advanced to Jerusalem.
Saladin, not having the strength to give the crusaders an open battle, as he could restrain the enemy army, leaving scorched earth in front of him. His tactics were crowned with success. On the approaches to the coveted city, Richard realized that there would be nothing to feed and water the army: all the crops around were destroyed, and most of the wells were filled up. He decided to abandon the siege so as not to destroy the entire army. 1192, September 2 - Peace was made between the crusaders and Saladin.
The Christians retained a narrow coastal strip from Tire to Jaffa. The main goal of the crusade - Jerusalem - remained with the Saracens; however, for 3 years, Christian pilgrims could freely visit the holy city. The Christians did not receive the Holy Cross, and the Christian captives were not released.
Not the least role in the fact that Richard I the Lionheart left Palestine was played by rumors that his younger brother John wants to take the throne of England. Therefore, the king wanted to get to England as soon as possible. But on the way back, a storm brought his ship into the Adriatic Gulf. From here he was forced to travel through Germany. The king, disguised as a merchant, was identified by Leopold of Austria, who did not forget the insults during the capture of Acre. 1192, December 21 - in the village of Erdberg near Vienna, he was captured and imprisoned in the Durenstein castle on the Danube.
In England, nothing was known about the fate of the king for a long time. According to legend, one of his friends, the troubadour Blondel, went in search. While in Germany, he learned that a noble prisoner was being held in a castle near Vienna. Blondel went there and heard the song coming from the castle window, which they had once composed with the king.
But this did not help the king to gain freedom. The Duke of Austria handed him over to the emperor Henry VI, who declared that the king could not be held captive by the duke, because this honor befits only him, the emperor. In reality, Heinrich wanted a rich ransom. But Leopold also agreed to give up the prisoner only after paying a compensation in the amount of 50,000 marks of silver.
The emperor had a king for two years. Pope Celestine III had to intervene, worried about popular unrest in England. Richard had to take an oath of allegiance to the emperor and pay 150,000 marks in silver. 1194, February 1 - Richard was released and hastened to England, where the people received him with enthusiasm. Prince John's supporters soon laid down their arms. The king forgave his brother, sailed to Normandy and never returned to his kingdom.
During the Crusade, the English king saw what powerful fortifications Byzantium and Muslim cities have, so he began to build something similar at home. The Château Gaillard castle in Normandy became a monument to his desire to strengthen the defensive power of the state.
The remaining years of his life, the legendary king spent in endless wars with his old friend and foe Philip II Augustus. In this case, everything came down as a rule to the siege of fortresses. On the evening of March 26, 1199, Richard went to a castle owned by Viscount Ademar of Limoges, who was suspected of having ties to the king of France. Probably, Richard I the Lionheart was not ready for an ambush, as he was not protected by armor, so one of the arrows hit him in the shoulder. The wound was not dangerous, but the infection began, and after 11 days, on April 6, 1199, Richard died, leaving in his memory a romantic image of a knight without fear and reproach, but giving nothing to his people.
V. Sklyarenko